Well it’s official, Marco Melandri will join Marco Simoncelli at Team Marco Gresini Honda for the 2010 season. With Kawasaki out of MotoGP for 2010, the fact that Melandri would find roots elsewhere was assured. Melandri is no stranger to the Gresini team, during the 2005 season Marco joined Gresini on the Honda Telefonico Moviestar team, riding alongside Spaniard Sete Gibernau.

Fausto Gresini acknowledged Melandri’s involvement with shaping the Gresini squad: “Melandri is a huge part of the Gresini story and we have had great results together.” The Marco’s will both enjoy better machinery next year as well. This weekened HRC president Tetsuo Suzuki made it clear that the race bikes provided to satellite teams will be more closely matched to the factory machines, perhaps only a couple of races behind in their level of development.

With the Marco’s in, that leaves current Gresini riders, Toni Elias and Alex de Angelis out looking for a job. De Angelis allegedly has a pre-contract deal with Pramac Ducati, which hasn’t been confirmed, but with the shake upgoing on at Ducati, de Angelis may just land up there. Elias seems to be vying for the open slot at the Tech3 Yamaha team, but that seems to be an improbable outcome, considering the level of interest in the team, and Elias mediocre results.